A Day at the Beach - Kalki Beach

Here are a few pictures of a day at Kalki Beach - it's a beach at the west end of the island.  Went snorkeling and saw a barracuda and a bunch of other fish I had never seem.  My friend, Mike, pointed out all the things I never would have seen had I been alone.  Forgot to take my underwater camera with me so all you get is the above-the-water scenes - the beach, some of the coral and shells.  :)

Day at kalki beach

View more presentations from curacaojj

A Curacao Tradition - Sinterklaas

Here’s the info we were sent about Sinterklaas.  It really is a big deal here, especially if you talk to the Dutch – it seems to be almost bigger than Christmas. 

Every December in the Netherlands, Curacao and countries around the world, the festival of St. Nicholas is celebrated. It is one of the biggest and most loved festivals of the year in Dutch communities.

Who is Sinterklaas?

Saint Nicholas lived in the 3rd century AD and was the bishop of Myra (Turkey). He is revered as the benefactor and protector of children. He died on December 6th, 343 AD, and ever since, the festival of St. Nicholas has been celebrated on that day (in the Netherlands it is celebrated the evening before - St. Nicholas Eve).

What are the traditions?

Sinterklaas and his helpers, the Zwarte Pieten , traditionally travel to Curacao by steamboat, all the way from Spain where they live in a big castle. When the steamboat arrives in the harbor (this year on November 19th, at about 9 am), hundreds of children will be welcoming Sinterklaas, singing songs, waving and cheering. There will be a parade, and they will spend time visiting the island, and of course wrapping all the presents for the big day!

Sinterklaas is dressed like a bishop, with a bishop's hat ("mijter"), a red mantle and a golden staff. His big red book is full of information about all the children he will visit. He rides a white horse, named Amerigo, and his helpers, the Zwarte Pieten, entertain everybody with acrobatics, funny jokes and candy.

Traditionally, on St. Nicholas Eve, December 5th, Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten go on the rooftops and deliver the presents through the chimney, and place these in the shoes of the children. Children put out their shoe before they go to bed, sing a Sinterklaas song, and usually leave some hay, water and carrots for the horse. 

What do we eat?

In the stores right now I can get the typical cookies and candies related to this festival: speculaas (spiced cookies), pepernoten or kruidnoten (little round spiced cookies), marsepein (marzipan) in all imaginable colors and shapes, taai-taai (cookie), chocolate letters and all sorts of little candies.

The interesting thing about the Zwarte Pieten is how the story has evolved.  As you’ll see in the pictures, people darken their faces and make their lips really pronounced.  Originally it was said that the Zwarte Pieten were St. Nicholas’s slaves; then they were his helpers; and now, in an effort to be more PC, the story is that their black faces come from the chimney dust.  Some of the locals and the non-Dutch teachers here find the celebration of Sinterklaas offensive.  We will be having a Sinterklaas celebration here at school on Monday (DEC 5) – it will be interesting if nothing else.

Also, it used to be if Sinterklaas thought you were “naughty” you would be put in a burlap bag and beaten with a little handmade-handheld broom.  They sell miniature bags in the stores for all your Sinterklaas present-wrapping needs.  

Sinterklaas

View more presentations from curacaojj

Angelica's Kitchen - Curacao Cooking School

Went to a local cooking school - here was our menu - tomato and cucumber salsa; hidden sardines (puff pastry appetizer), plantain soup, curaçao chicken with rice, and for dessert?  pumpkin pancakes topped with ice cream and a curaçao liquor sauce.   We started the evening off with a glass of wine on the patio of the cooking school.  Then we went into the "kitchen" and our instructor, Clarita, demonstrated quickly how to make each dish; she then paired us up and we each made one of the courses.  In between we drank wine and stopped to dance to Caribbean music!  As my grandmother used to say, a good time was had by all.  :)  Check out the pictures.

Cooking school

View more presentations from curacaojj

November 15 - Update

Check out a few new posts -  put them in chronological order - so if you got my test run there are a few more thrown in.  :)  Plus, when you get to the bottom of the page you can click on "older posts" for the rest of the posts.

Hope all is going well in your worlds.
:) jj

Koredor Walk

There is a walking/running path here called the Koredor - one day I took my camera along to take pictures of things I see along the way.  The one slide with the factory-looking area is the desalinization plant - it takes the ocean salt water and creates fresh drinking water.  There is also a slide of the boat I am going to buy. (he he he :) )  It's a 3.2 mile loop - half is along the ocean and the other half is alongside a street.  I try to walk it a few times a week.  There are not really sidewalks here in neighborhoods so lots of people go there to walk and run.

Koredor walk

View more presentations from curacaojj

B-day Celebration - 14 November 2011

Here are a few pictures from dinner on my birthday - an Indonesian restaurant on a hill overlooking the ocean.  That's me with the middle school math teacher - he's from Chicago.

B day

View more presentations from curacaojj

My Saturday - 12 November 2011

Here's a highlight of what I did this past Saturday...

-Went to a landhuis (land house), which is similar to a planation house in the US, that has been converted into an art gallery.  Didn't get too many pictures of the exhibit that was there but more of the outside area.

-Went to the Heineken Regatta which happens once a year here...I don't remember ever being to a regatta before - watched some sailboats and then some windsurfers.

-Had our second cook-off - this month's theme was desserts - I am happy to announce I won!  with Strawberries and Lemon Creme.  I don't have a slide of me being "crowned" (because, well, I was being crowned :)) but the woman in the picture is the 1st cook-off winner - she came in 2nd this time.  And the other slide is the people waiting in anticipation of announcement of the winner.

My saturday 11 12-11

View more presentations from curacaojj

British Pub Quiz - 5 November 2011

The British Women's Club of Curacao has a British Pub Quiz fundraiser every year. We put together a team of 8 teachers and headed to the quiz. We didn't land in the top 3 (of 32 teams), but I did win a door prize (see me in the photo). It is a really nice coffee table book of Curacao pictures - someone told me it sells for ~$75!

British pub quiz

View more presentations from curacaojj

The Long-Awaited Update!

Hello All-

Here are my first blog posts covering the month of October!  Enjoy!

The most recent one is on top and it follows chronologically.  also, check out my fun widgets on the right-hand side - who visits my blog, books I have read or am reading here, and the magic 8 ball when you can't make a decision.  :)

I'll try to post every couple of days - so check back when you'e bored and curious.

Hope all is well in your world.

Cheers and take care
jj

The Car Crisis - 28-29 October 2011

My friend Kris and I had to cover a shift at the evening Halloween Party at school.  Long story short - since we didn't want to take our purses into the Halloween Party we shoved them under the front seat - not visible to the outside.  Our friends went to a sports bar, parked the car, and went into have a beverage.  An hour later we met them at the bar along with some other teachers who had the same shift.  Our friend Brian came in and said he was going to park in the back lot but the parking guy said there were a couple of cars that had been broken into - guess where our car was parked??? Yep, the back lot.  The passenger side window was broken and our purses were gone.  We talked to the owner of the bar and called the police.  Some of our friends stayed while we went home to cancel credit and bank cards.  The next morning the police came to the house and took our report.  Our friend Gretchen brought us a "care package" (see photo) to help us get through!  About 4pm, there was a car in our driveway  - the police - someone had found our purses on the side of the road and turned them in to the Police Dept.  Everything (credit/bank cards, IDs) was there except about $15 of cash and both of our cell phones.  Unbelievable!

Car crisis

View more presentations from curacaojj

First Curacao Cook-off - October 22, 2011

Following the tradition I had begun in Colorado, we held our first cook-off here in Curacao.  The theme was appetizers – could be hot, could be cold.  We had 14 official entries – a couple of people came with food after the judging – we still ate their food, but they didn’t get to be in the contest.  The first place honors went to the elementary school principal – she made an appetizer she called, To Mexico with Love.  Basically, a tortilla chip-like cracker – with black bean spread, sour cream, a pico de gallo, avocados, and some sort of homemade salsa on top.  Her husband, one of the HS Spanish teachers, took second and our friend Becky took third.  I came in 4^th.  About 25 people came – we had a great time eating, drinking, and dancing the night away. 

Check out a few of the pictures above.

UN Day @ School - Friday, 21 October 2011

UN Day @ school...UN Day happens yearly on October 24.  Since the 24^th landed on a MON this year, our school decided to celebrate UN Day the Friday before.  It is such a cool experience.  We had a couple of classes in the morning and then the rest of the day was spent having fun learning about other cultures.  You are encouraged to dress in the colors or costume of your country.  I wore red, white, and blue.  They started out with an assembly in the gym – each elementary classroom had studied a different country and did a little song or dance from the country.  This year the theme of UN Day was Human Rights – so the Mock UN Class read the preamble to the Declaration of Human Rights and then we saw a short video.  The senior class did this drum line and lead everyone in the gym over to the food booths.  They had about 15 booths set up and parents had volunteered to bring food, games, info from their country and you basically just walked around and ate, listened to the different music, watched dancing from different cultures, etc.  It was a tiring but such an enjoyable day.

Un day

View more presentations from curacaojj

Oktoberfest - Curacao Style - October 15, 2011

There is a weekly brochure here called K-Pasa and it lists all the things going on for the week – music, happy hours, special events, etc. – so one week at the beginning of October it listed the Curacao Oktoberfest.  We took our chances and went, not sure whether or not there would be anyone there.  As it turned out there were several tents and a fairly big music stage – while they didn’t play any oom-pa-pa music , they did have some contests – yodeling and who-could-do- the-chicken-dance-the-best – I didn’t participate in either one – but the 5^th grade teacher did and won the yodeling contest – won a blackberry-type phone! 

Check out a few of the pictures.

Oktoberfest

View more presentations from curacaojj

Beach Clean-up - 8 October 2011

Every year the school has beach clean-ups as a way to provide students and staff with community service opportunities.  Here are a few pictures.

Beach clean up

View more presentations from curacaojj

Bogota, Colombia - 30 September - 7 October

Bogota - Regatta Break

Went to Bogota for our Regatta Break.  Enjoyed it.  It was a big city...some good parts and some not-so-good parts.

Things that were good...
-The temperature - when you have spent 2+ months in 90+ degree weather - it feels good to be in ~70 degree weather - got to wear socks and a sweatshirt! - which was a blessing. :)
-Sunday Art Market in Usaquen - a quaint little part of the city.  Tents and vendors all over.  I bought a hand-knit (by a little Colombian woman) throw-over sweater that I definitely won't wear in Curacao but will come in handy when I come home.
-Crepes and Waffles - while there were many yummy restaurants this was was especially nice since it employs only struggling women trying to get back on their feet AND they have outstanding food.  Plus they have to-die-for dessert crepes.  :)
-On Sundays, they close down this main thoroughfare in the city and it becomes a biking/walking/running path.  It was cool to see all these people come out and exercise in the middle of the city.
-Restaurant 1492 - in the area of the city called Zona Rosa (Pink Zone) - spent many a happy hour there - vino caliente- hot wine - with a sugar-rimmed glass - which was a nice treat amidst the rainy weather.
-Got to get plunged, yes, I mean plunged into working on my Spanish - VERY few people spoke English - it was great practice.
-This hot chocolate drink that is served with delicious hot chocolate, white cheese, and bread.  You put the cheese in the hot chocolate and then dip the bread in and scope out the cheese - bread, cheese, and chocolate - how could you go wrong?  Although it may not sound like it goes together it was surprisingly tasty.  :)

Not-so-great things...
-The number of homeless people
-The pollution
-The graffiti - although there was a lot of this - on ANY building - government buildings/churches/businesses - it was very artisitic.
-Some of our communications got lost in translation!  :)
-Coffee was not so great.  One of the taxi drivers said all the good coffee is exported to the States and therefore there really isn't any good coffee in the city - he was kinda right! :)

Check out the pictures for a glimpse at life in Bogota.

Bogota

View more presentations from curacaojj